On a scheduled Air Canada flight from Toronto to London earlier this year, the copilot became mentally ill and was removed by the crew from the controls while on approach to London's Heathrow Airport. The aircraft, a Boeing 767 carrying 146 passengers and nine crew members, made a diversion to Shannon Ireland. The captain asked if anyone could help him in the cockpit, a female flight attendant, holder of a commercial pilot's license, volunteered to replace the copilot and took control of the jet all the way to the landing phase in Shannon. The aircraft was on auto pilot mode until seconds before touchdown, probably the captain managed the flight deck by keeping track of the data in the flight management system while the F/A replacing the copilot helped him in doing the radio work, consult the approach charts and select Shannon as a suitable airport. Two doctors were on board the aircraft. The mentally ill copilot is was in hospital for a few days.
Kudos to the captain and the flight attendants for their professional behavior in handling the situation.
